Johnny Buss

Last updated
Johnny Buss
Born
Johnny Hatten Buss

(1956-10-18) October 18, 1956 (age 67)
Inglewood, California, U.S.
OccupationPart owner of the Los Angeles Lakers

Johnny Hatten Buss (born October 18, 1956) [1] is an American executive who is a part-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). [2] He previously held positions as president of the Los Angeles Lazers professional indoor soccer team and the Los Angeles Sparks professional women's basketball team. He is the oldest son of the late Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

Contents

Early life

Buss was born in Inglewood, California, [3] to JoAnn and Jerry Buss. Their oldest son, he was raised with his brother Jim and sisters Jeanie and Janie. [3] [4] Buss's parents divorced when he was 12. [5] He attended Pacific Palisades High School in Los Angeles. He quit the school football team after two plays on the first day of tryouts and was forced off their gymnastics team for not cutting his hair. Expelled from school for cutting class, Buss finished at a different school. He enrolled at Santa Monica College, but skipped classes there too. Later, he attended the University of Southern California, where he studied drama. [5]

Professional career

Buss was managing a real estate company in Las Vegas when his father appointed him in 1982 to run the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). [5] With the team facing financial difficulties, he resigned after three seasons following the 1984 season. [6] Buss began racing Formula Three cars. He wanted a million-dollar race car, but his father refused to pay for it, not wanting his son to race at the higher speeds. When the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was founded in 1996, Buss's father appointed him as president of the Los Angeles Sparks. [5] The team won WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002. [6] After reaching the playoffs in each subsequent season, Buss resigned in 2006. [7] He started a social networking site for artists, Musester.com. [4] [8]

By 2013, Buss was the Los Angeles Lakers' executive vice president of strategic development. [9] [10] His father died that year, and his 66% controlling ownership of the Lakers passed to six of his children via four trusts, the Buss Family Trusts, [11] with each child receiving an equal interest. [12] [13] [14] In addition to Buss and his siblings Jim, Jeanie, and Janie, the other heirs were their half-brothers—Joey and Jesse—from an ex-girlfriend of their father. [12] Buss, Jim and Jeanie were named the three trustees. [15]

On February 21, 2017, Jeanie, the Lakers' president, fired Jim as president of basketball operations. Buss thought that his brother should have been reassigned privately instead of a public firing. [16] In a letter from Buss three days later, Jeanie was informed that he and Jim were proposing a Lakers' board of directors that did not include her. [17] [18] [19] She responded by filing a temporary restraining order and suing her brothers for breaching their duties as trustees. [17] [20] After the brothers' proposal failed, Buss resigned from the team, [11] [21] and he and Jim resigned as co-trustees, replaced by Janie and Joey. [11]

In 2019, Buss bought The Ice House comedy club in Pasadena, California, [22] one of the oldest comedy clubs in the country. [23] [24] A few months after his purchase, the club closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Buss took the opportunity to renovate the club, which re-opened in 2023 after a three-year hiatus and $4 million overhaul. [24]

Political career

In 2024, Buss announced his campaign as an independent candidate in the the U.S. presidential election. [25]

Personal life

Buss married his girlfriend in 1990, before separating two days after; they were divorced a year later. [5] Around 1991, he married Los Angeles Clippers cheerleader Christy Curtis. [5] [26] They were separated by 2012. [27]

Buss met his older sister around 2019. His parents had put her up for adoption after birth, and she later searched her roots. [3] [28]

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References

  1. ↑ Buss, Jeanie; Springer, Steve (2010). Laker Girl. Triumph Books. p. 22. ISBN   9781600785115.
  2. ↑ Medina, Mark (February 18, 2013). "Jerry Buss' family will honor his wishes and keep Lakers". Daily News. Los Angeles. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 "Meet Johnny Hatten Buss". Buss for America 2024. Archived from the original on March 17, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Ireland, John (May 3, 2009). "All in the Family". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lidz, Franz (November 2, 1998). "She's Got Balls". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on March 13, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Springer, Steve (November 24, 2002). "Buss—The Next Generation". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 27, 2002.
  7. ↑ "Buss stepping down as Sparks president, sale possible". ESPN.com. October 31, 2006. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Musester: Created By Artists For All Artists!". Musester.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2011.
  9. ↑ Wharton, David (February 18, 2013). "Jerry Buss dies at 80; Lakers owner brought 'Showtime' success to L.A." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  10. ↑ Rupprecht, Josh (2013). Lakers 2013–14 Media Guide (PDF). Los Angeles Lakers. p. 6. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 Ganguli, Tania (June 18, 2017). "Johnny Buss distances himself from siblings and the Lakers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  12. 1 2 Bresnahan, Mike (April 19, 2014). "Buss family faces crucial moment with the Lakers". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014.
  13. ↑ Markazi, Arash (February 18, 2013). "Buss family won't sell Lakers". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2013.
  14. ↑ Medina, Mark (February 18, 2013). "Jerry Buss' family will honor his wishes and keep Lakers". Daily News. Los Angeles. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  15. ↑ Shelburne, Ramona (March 3, 2017). "Buss brothers deny trying to remove Jeanie Buss as controlling owner". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  16. ↑ Ganguli, Tania (June 18, 2017). "The most powerful woman in sports". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  17. 1 2 Shelburne, Ramona (April 11, 2017). "Inside Jeanie Buss' Lakers takeover". ESPN. Retrieved March 27, 2024– via ABC7.
  18. ↑ Oram, Bill (March 27, 2017). "Jeanie Buss takes control of Lakers, ending brothers' failed coup". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  19. ↑ Fenno, Nathan (March 27, 2017). "Buss family feud over Lakers appears to end with Jeanie removing brother Jim as a trustee". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  20. ↑ Altman, Larry; Medina, Mark (March 18, 2017). "Buss brothers agree to new board of directors for Lakers, with Jeanie Buss on it". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  21. ↑ Fenmo, Nathan (July 3, 2018). "It was 16 months ago when Jeanie Buss made a daring move to seize control of the Lakers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  22. ↑ Jackson, Nate (February 16, 2023). "The Ice House reopens in Pasadena with laughs, lofty goals and Lakers magic". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  23. ↑ Carpenter, Susan (March 22, 2023). "'Fluffy' to headline Ice House comedy club grand reopening". Spectrum News. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  24. 1 2 Guzman, Richard (March 1, 2023). "How The Ice House comedy club in Pasadena reopened with a Lakers connection". Pasadena Star-News. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  25. ↑ Woike, Dan (March 14, 2024). "Johnny Buss, brother of Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, is running for president". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  26. ↑ Robinson, Gale (August 23, 1991). "What A Coup?". Los Angeles Times. p. E5. Retrieved March 25, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ Hui, Ann (March 5, 2012). "Mimran. Trump. Buss. Women rise above family name" . The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 25, 2024. Christy Curtis Buss, who is married to Johnny Buss – the son of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss and one-time president of the Los Angeles Sparks before the senior Mr. Buss sold the women's basketball team – echoes the fact that being related to a famous man can have its downsides. (The couple have since separated, though they remain legally married and maintain a good relationship, she said.)
  28. ↑ Kahn, Carol (November 5, 2022). "Lee Klose finds birth family after decades". Sedona Red Rock News. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
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